Journalists Who Lie

Steven Glass was a young journalist working for The New Republic in the late '90s whose errors drew the glare of the regulatory limelight on the profession.

Adam Penenberg of Forbes magazine summarised the breaches made shortly after the discovery of fraudulant story-telling, and his article can still be accessed today, striking a warning note about journalists who lie. -

"...Glass also cited an organization called the "National Assembly of Hackers," which he claimed had sponsored a recent hacker conference in Bethesda, Md. Surely this was real. But no. Despite our best efforts, we could not unearth a single hacker who had even heard of this outfit, let alone attended the conference.

Glass reported that 21 states were considering versions of the "Uniform Computer Security Act," which would "criminalize immunity deals between hackers and companies." Again, law enforcement officials were unaware of any such law, and the National Conference of Commissions on Uniform State Laws, based in Chicago, reported no knowledge of it.

In short, nothing in the story could be verified. Even Jukt Micronics' phone number turned out to be a cell phone.

"Steve has admitted to making up certain parts of it," Lane said on Sunday. "Based on my own investigations, I have determined to a moral certainty that the entire article is made up."

It is ironic that online journalists have received bad press from the print media for shoddy reporting. But the truth is, bad journalism can be found anywhere.

It is not the medium; it is the writer."

Lies, damn lies and fiction - Forbes.com#

Quite an impressive film called Shattered Glass was made about the fiasco - Shattered Glass (2003)